Esmeralda
by Rita Arabella Black
Summary: For the Hogwarts Online Professor Flitwick's Daily challenge. Bill and Charlie on a typical adventure.


**A/N: For Professor's Flitwick's Daily Challege for May 7, "Mum and Dad are going to kill me. And I'm going to tell you this, it will not be done with mercy." I loved the quote, but not sure about the story. It was a lot funnier in my head. Thanks for reading. Oh, this story is based on characters created by J. K. Rowling. Rita**

Bill ran into his brother Charlie, literally, as Charlie ran from the shed, knocking him down. He had something burning in his hand and he was in a hell of a hurry.

"What's up?" Bill asked.

"Mum and Dad are gonna kill me! And I'm gonna tell you this, it will not be done with mercy!"

"What did you do? And why is mum's favorite chicken on fire?"

"It's not really on fire; it's just sort of, uh, glowing?"

"No, mate, that bird's on fire. Better get it put out or serve it for dinner tonight," he said laughing.

Bill thought whatever Charlie was into was terribly funny, but this was the first time in his young life Charlie didn't seem to find the humour in what he was doing. Charlie's face was bright red and he had the poor bird by the neck. He picked himself up and ran toward the rain barrel and threw it in, dousing the smoldering feathers.

"You can fix it, right?" Charlie asked holding the charred bird out of the water.

"If you mean adding parsnips and serving it as a meal, then yeah." Bill was still laughing. "What did you do?" he repeated.

"Well, it's kind of a long story," Charlie began. The chicken, who appeared to be alive, clucked miserably.

Bill watched his younger brother squirm. "I have all day."

Charlie blew out a nervous breath. "Well, I recall reading…"

"You can read?" he interrupted.

He gave him a mean look. "I read that mother dragons often adopt birds and stuff when they lose their babies and…"

"Dragons?"

He nodded. "I kind of found a dragon and she looked depressed…"

"You _found_ a dragon?" Bill asked incredulously.

He nodded again. "She's beautiful," he whispered reverently. Charlie's eyes sort of glazed over and he got a soft, goofy look on his face.

Charlie was always bringing home creatures he'd found and nursed them back to health, but he could honestly say he'd never seen Charlie bring a live fire-breathing dragon before. Where on earth did it come from? The only dragons remotely near were the Common Welch Greens, and they had never been spotted this far north.

"Let me see it," Bill coaxed. "What kind is it?"

"I don't know. I found it last night. The wing's hurt. It's smaller than anything I've ever seen, but it isn't a baby."

"How would you know that?"

Charlie rolled his eyes. "The wings and head, of course. Everyone knows that."

"Sorry," Bill said. He was quite sure that not everyone knew how to distinguish an adult dragon. "And how do you know it's a female?"

Again Charlie rolled his eyes and tapped his foot impatiently. "Honestly, Bill, I thought you were the smart one in the family. The colour, of course. Females are always mixed with a grayish green as camouflage. Not that they need it, but when they're nesting, it's to protect the eggs."

"Oh," Bill said. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You know, Charlie, I don't think mum's going to be upset over your trying to fricassee her favorite hen."

Charlie looked up, his eyes lighting up. "Really? You think?"

"Oh absolutely," he said nodding. "She's going to kill you over the dragon."

Charlie's face fell.

"What the heck were you thinking? You can't keep a dragon here. What were you planning to feed it?"

"Well," he said, turning red again. "Mrs. Miller has an awfully lot of sheep and I didn't think she'd miss a dozen or so."

Bill shook his head. "And just how long were you planning to keep it? You know you can't hide one, where did you say you hid it?"

"I put her in Dad's shed with his muggle electri-tronic stuff. He doesn't go out there much and mum never goes out there. I didn't think they'd mind me keeping her until her wing's healed."

"Charlie, Charlie, Charlie," Bill sighed dramatically, patting him on his shoulder. "What if it ate one of the other kids? I mean they wouldn't miss Percy too much, but you know they would notice if the twins turned up missing."

"But she needs me," Charlie said, pleadingly. "She's real depressed."

Bill ignored him. "Besides possessing a dragon is a crime. You want mum and dad sent to Azkaban?"

Charlie looked frightened. "No!"

"We're going to have to get rid of it."

"But," he repeated, "She needs me."

Bill took the dazed chicken out of Charlie's hands and shooed it back into the hen house. He would deal with that later. "Come on. Show me the dragon."

"Her name's Esmeralda, just like…" he blushed again. He took his brother inside Arthur Weasley's "shed," way in the back in a large iron cook pot; the dragon was hanging part way out. She raised her head and gave a strange cry when she saw Charlie.

The dragon looked to be about five feet long with large, bugging eyes, and smoke coming from its nostrils. Her head was covered in spiny-jagged edged spear like feathers. Her scales were indeed a greenish gray mixed in with her true colors, a tangerine color.

"Hey, girl," Charlie said in a prayer-like tender whisper.

The dragon nodded and cried out again. Bill saw a few sheep heads strewn about the floor by the pot. It did not look weak or ailing to Bill; it looked like it could rip his face off and feast on his brains. He took Charlie's arm and dragged him outside where he finally caught his breath.

"Are you mental?" Bill cried. "You have to get rid of that thing straight away. I don't care how cute you think she is or how much she reminds you of your girlfriend, it has to go!"

Charlie blushed again. "Esmeralda isn't my girlfriend," he said, his head ducked shyly.

"Pay attention! We have to get rid of that thing NOW!"

"Okay! But Esmeralda isn't my girlfriend, just so that's clear."

"I got it, Charlie. Jeez, let it go," Bill said. "I think the best thing we can do is move her somewhere and then send an anonymous message to the _Beast, Being, and Spirit Division. _They can deal with it. No one will ever know it was us. First of all, can you move it? We'd have to move it away from the Burrow or someone's likely to know you took it. What a mess."

It took several hours and coordinating like nothing anyone had seen before, but Bill and Charlie managed to deposit Esmeralda, using the Floo Network (a brilliant idea from Bill) to the Ministry of Magic. The boys had painstakingly built a fire proof crate to hold the dragon and wrote a note describing her injuries, asking the _Beast, Being, and Spirit Division_ to find her a good home. Charlie wanted to throw off an suspicion by including reassurance that they didn't know the Weasley's, but Bill told him that would immediately know it was them if they denied being the Weasley's. He sighed and shook his head. _He seriously worried about his brother._

They made sure no one saw them when they followed the dragon to the Ministry. The crate was found almost immediately and the two boys floo back to the Burrow. They had managed it! No one would ever know.

Bill and Charlie felt like they were the cleverest wizards in the world. Charlie missed the dragon, but Bill talked him into letting her go. Dragons were too dangerous to keep, he reminded him over and over.

To celebrate their adventure, Bill and Charlie stole some butter beer from their parents' cupboard and spent the rest of the afternoon by the river, drinking and reliving their bravery.

They made their way back to the Burrow just at twilight and were surprised to find their parents waiting for them. They smiled and waved at their parents unafraid. After all, they didn't have anything to be nervous about.

Molly raised an eyebrow. Arthur crossed his arms at his chest and looked at them. "You boys have something you want to tell us?" Arthur asked. Molly just stared at them.

"No mum," Charlie said. "We've been fishing all afternoon. Nothing's been going on." He had put on his most innocent face; one he sure his mother could not resist.

"_Really_?" she said. "Perhaps you can explain this." Molly pulled her prize laying hen from behind her back.

_Oh crap! thought Charlie. His earlier prediction was about to come true. _


End file.
